Sports ramblings…with a Yankees bias!

Hahaha!…I Love It!…

It was in the Wall Street Journal so it must be true!…

Ask my friend Julia who the most hated team in baseball is and I’m sure she will point towards the Bronx.Sorry Julia!According to the Wall Street Journal, the Cleveland Indians are the most hated team followed closely by…the Boston Red Sox!

The Yankees may have finished fifth on the list (created by Nielsen Co. using an Internet algorithm), but they were better than the Red Sox (of course!) and that’s all that really matters!The Boston Red Sox, more despised than the New York Yankees.Ah, what a great feeling!Just sayin’…J

Nice recovery by the Yankees in Baltimore.After dropping the first game of the series in pathetic fashion, they rebounded to take the final two games by scores of 8-3 and 4-0, respectively.

In the first win, the Yankees rode a season high 15 hits to victory.CC Sabathia was off his game somewhat as he gave up 11 hits in 7 2/3 innings, but he only allowed 3 runs.

Mark Theiler/EPA

Robinson Cano, off to a blazing start this season, homered in the third.Like many people, I felt that this was going to be a huge year for Cano, particularly moving up to 5th in the batting order behind Alex Rodriguez.So far, he has not disappointed.

Mike Ricigliano/Baltimore Sun

The game wasn’t all smiles as the Yankees did lose catcher Jorge Posada in the second inning with a right knee contusion after he was hit by a pitch.He won’t miss much time but he’ll be sore for a few days.

Burton/AP

Tonight, the Yankees were led by the brilliant pitching of A.J. Burnett and the continued hot hitting of Robinson Cano.Cano, with an AL-leading batting average of .407, hit his 7th and 8th home runs of the season in the fourth and eighth innings.With Cano’s scorching bat, it’s too bad that A-Rod and Mark Teixeira aren’t hitting at the plate.When they get going, the Yankees are going to be very hard to stop.Sorry Julia!

Mark Theiler/EPA

After Burnett left (8 innings, 3 hits, no runs, 1 walk, and 4 strikeouts, with only one base runner getting past second base), the great Mariano Rivera finished up in a non-save opportunity.

It was a long road trip that saw the Yankees’ series win streak snapped in Anaheim, but they finished strong with the series win in Baltimore and an overall winning record (5-4).Now, if somebody could just beat the Tampa Bay Rays.

James Borchuck/St. Petersburg Times

The Yankees head back to the Bronx to face the Chicago White Sox in a weekend series. Hopefully, Javier Vazquez will get going against his former teammates.It’s time for him to get the Yankee fans behind him, and start pitching like he is capable of.

Off-topic alert!

It is no secret that I was disappointed the Minnesota Vikings passed on a quarterback of the future in the recent NFL Draft (when they could have selected Jimmy Clausen or Colt McCoy).They did draft a QB in the sixth round (UAB’s Joe Webb) but he is targeted for a position switch to wide receiver.They signed undrafted free agent QB R.J. Archer of William & Mary, but the most intriguing player is QB Ryan Perrilloux.Ryan has been given a tryout during this weekend’s mini-camp.He was highly touted coming out of high school in 2005.He was considered the top prospect at the position, along with current New York Jets QB Mark Sanchez.He went to LSU, where he played behind Oakland Raiders QB JaMarcus Russell.Off-the-field transgressions and violation of team rules led to his suspension and subsequent ouster from the school.He transferred to Jacksonville State where he had a largely unnoticed but successful career.

Todd Kirkland/Icon SMI

I don’t know what happened at LSU, but Ryan appears to have learned from the errors in his past.I do believe in character and attitude first, but he deserves a second chance assuming that he truly has “righted the ship”.He shares an agent (Bus Cook) with Vikings QB Brett Favre, which may have led to the tryout with the Vikings.He has also been seen practicing with Favre this off-season.I wish Ryan the very best in his tryout and I hope to see both him and Favre on the field for the Vikings this fall.

2 Comments

I saw that article – and you’ve GOT to be kidding me – the CLEVELAND INDIANS??? The most hated team?? For what? That they come from Cleveland? Fine – the Red Sox finished higher on the list then the Yankees – BUT that just means that Red Sox fans say nicer things online then Yankee fans!! Because that is what they measured – the number of negative comments on the internet. So thanks! I always knew that we Red Sox fans were kind! ;-)

I was pleased to see the Yankees play good baseball during the last two games, and during April in general.

As far as Cleveland Indians being the most hated team, I think it may have to do something with their own fans expressing frustration at their current players and the fact that their management has given away a couple of Cy Young award winners and other outstanding players away in the past few years. As for the Red Sox coming second on that list, I think it proves how large the Yankee fan base is ;-)

But it also has to do with fans of a lot of other teams who don’t like the behavior of Boston fans when they are visiting other teams. That includes Rays fans, Angels fans, Rangers fans, and also Tigers and Orioles fans. Though they are mostly well behaved at Yankee Stadium for obvious reasons ;-)

All Yankee fans aren’t saints either. Most are good though :)

But a lot of the criticism coming the Yankees way stems from the fact that they spend a lot of money and buy a lot of good free agents. All you have to do is read comments after every Yankee win and their payroll is all what opposing fans will be talking about.

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